So earlier in the year, I picked up my first 80 series for an overland type build. Basically something the kids and I can hit the off road parks with, camp out of, and embarrass a few heeps with along the way (my completed rig will have a sticker that reads: “Jeeps are cute, Barbie has one”).
It’s a '96, Alabama truck (no rust, clear coat, or paint fade issues) with 287k on the clock. Drove over 4 hours away to look at it, ended up buying it, as it does have the "magic button” on the dash which is of major importance. She drove flawlessly on the 4-hour trip back home, at times exceeding 80 mph; averaging 17.4 mpg. Overall, I couldn't be happier with this rig.
The only cons to this truck: no service records, whatsoever, leaky engine; from what I know so far, just the common few drops of oil on the garage floor - no biggie, as that can be a winter project replacing seals, gaskets, etc, dented front passenger front fender (again, no biggie, and probably won’t even worry about addressing it), and the driver side door is tweaked and needs replaced – I’ve worked, and worked on this, but the upper part of the door frame looks as if someone was backing up with the door open, and hit something in the process, and really jacked the top of the door frame up, thus not sealing, creating a lot of wind noise on dry days, and allowing water to get in on rainy days. The interior is pretty plain, but not bad, after getting everything cleaned up, with the typical cracked front seats, power antenna not working, seat gears and caps in need of replacement, windows all functioning, albeit slowly, but nothing I don’t think new gaskets and window seals won’t cure. And, there may or may not be an issue with the AC on this truck. I need to get a belt for the compressor.
Herein lies the dilemma: I recently stumbled upon a LX450 with 250k miles on the clock cheap enough that an older couple had, and needed to sell, as they were moving to Florida. The price was what I considered right, and without much hesitation, I bought it… maybe this land cruiser stuff is an addiction?
Anyways, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but from talking with the couple for a while, I got a good feeling that this truck had been well taken care of – maintenance wise, that is. And it looks really nice cosmetically on the exterior, with very few rust issues, that I’ll expand upon in a minute.
You see, he was a heavy smoker, puffing on one cigarette after another all while having tubes from an oxygen tank inserted in his nostrils to aid in his breathing. Did I mention they were selling out and moving to Florida? Although I’m not much of a television watcher, when I took the truck for a test drive, it looked like an episode of the television show “Hoarders” that I’ve heard so much about, as there was barely room for me and my passenger in the front seats from all the “stuff” that was piled in the truck. Did I mention there was a pistol laying on the back floorboard when we took it for the test drive, lol. So it was a nice, warm sunny day, and we rolled the windows up, and cranked up the AC – viola! Nice cold air – but the downside – they were heavy smokers, and the truck smelled like a$$ from the cigarette smoke, and there was residue from presumably non-filter cigs dripping from anything and everything including the headliner, so the AC test was short lived.
Cut to today, after putting much time, effort, and elbow grease in to getting the LX cleaned up, and the interior is plush – I mean practically new looking. I don’t know if there is that much difference between the LC and the LX, but the carpets, headliner and everything besides the typical seats of this era, look great for a 20-year-old vehicle.
So, the only real cons to this truck are few: no lockers; a dent in the driver’s side of rear tailgate, the rust spots – 2 on the front hood, which even though I’m not a body guy, have started to “fix” by use of a needle scaler, angle grinder, and a package of JB Weld. The other, is a what was a bubbled up spot on the rear hatch, just below the window gasket, which after tackling this with the needle scaler, is now an approximate 1” tall by 3” wide hole, just to the right and above the latch. And there is one spot on the DS rear wheel well, toward the front, where it appears there is a backing plate that the passenger seat belt is bolted to, that appears easy enough to replace? Other than that, cosmetically, you’d be hard pressed to find a 20-year-old truck in better cosmetic shape. Disclaimer: I’m not a huge fan of the Tupperware on the Lexus, but given the alternative of having to plug the 100+ holes that it attaches to, it will remain for a while. Oh, and someone stole both the cats off this truck, so in order to get the CEL light off, I’d assume one would have to replace those?
I like them both, but I really like how the interior of the LX turned out. It’s amazing what some time, removing the carpet, a power washer and a carpet shampooer will do.
Should I tackle switching the lockers from the LC to the LX and keep it, or just sell the LX as is to fund the needed maintenance and mods on the LC?
Thanks for taking the time to read, and your opinions are valued, and appreciated!
It’s a '96, Alabama truck (no rust, clear coat, or paint fade issues) with 287k on the clock. Drove over 4 hours away to look at it, ended up buying it, as it does have the "magic button” on the dash which is of major importance. She drove flawlessly on the 4-hour trip back home, at times exceeding 80 mph; averaging 17.4 mpg. Overall, I couldn't be happier with this rig.
The only cons to this truck: no service records, whatsoever, leaky engine; from what I know so far, just the common few drops of oil on the garage floor - no biggie, as that can be a winter project replacing seals, gaskets, etc, dented front passenger front fender (again, no biggie, and probably won’t even worry about addressing it), and the driver side door is tweaked and needs replaced – I’ve worked, and worked on this, but the upper part of the door frame looks as if someone was backing up with the door open, and hit something in the process, and really jacked the top of the door frame up, thus not sealing, creating a lot of wind noise on dry days, and allowing water to get in on rainy days. The interior is pretty plain, but not bad, after getting everything cleaned up, with the typical cracked front seats, power antenna not working, seat gears and caps in need of replacement, windows all functioning, albeit slowly, but nothing I don’t think new gaskets and window seals won’t cure. And, there may or may not be an issue with the AC on this truck. I need to get a belt for the compressor.
Herein lies the dilemma: I recently stumbled upon a LX450 with 250k miles on the clock cheap enough that an older couple had, and needed to sell, as they were moving to Florida. The price was what I considered right, and without much hesitation, I bought it… maybe this land cruiser stuff is an addiction?
Anyways, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, but from talking with the couple for a while, I got a good feeling that this truck had been well taken care of – maintenance wise, that is. And it looks really nice cosmetically on the exterior, with very few rust issues, that I’ll expand upon in a minute.
You see, he was a heavy smoker, puffing on one cigarette after another all while having tubes from an oxygen tank inserted in his nostrils to aid in his breathing. Did I mention they were selling out and moving to Florida? Although I’m not much of a television watcher, when I took the truck for a test drive, it looked like an episode of the television show “Hoarders” that I’ve heard so much about, as there was barely room for me and my passenger in the front seats from all the “stuff” that was piled in the truck. Did I mention there was a pistol laying on the back floorboard when we took it for the test drive, lol. So it was a nice, warm sunny day, and we rolled the windows up, and cranked up the AC – viola! Nice cold air – but the downside – they were heavy smokers, and the truck smelled like a$$ from the cigarette smoke, and there was residue from presumably non-filter cigs dripping from anything and everything including the headliner, so the AC test was short lived.
Cut to today, after putting much time, effort, and elbow grease in to getting the LX cleaned up, and the interior is plush – I mean practically new looking. I don’t know if there is that much difference between the LC and the LX, but the carpets, headliner and everything besides the typical seats of this era, look great for a 20-year-old vehicle.
So, the only real cons to this truck are few: no lockers; a dent in the driver’s side of rear tailgate, the rust spots – 2 on the front hood, which even though I’m not a body guy, have started to “fix” by use of a needle scaler, angle grinder, and a package of JB Weld. The other, is a what was a bubbled up spot on the rear hatch, just below the window gasket, which after tackling this with the needle scaler, is now an approximate 1” tall by 3” wide hole, just to the right and above the latch. And there is one spot on the DS rear wheel well, toward the front, where it appears there is a backing plate that the passenger seat belt is bolted to, that appears easy enough to replace? Other than that, cosmetically, you’d be hard pressed to find a 20-year-old truck in better cosmetic shape. Disclaimer: I’m not a huge fan of the Tupperware on the Lexus, but given the alternative of having to plug the 100+ holes that it attaches to, it will remain for a while. Oh, and someone stole both the cats off this truck, so in order to get the CEL light off, I’d assume one would have to replace those?
I like them both, but I really like how the interior of the LX turned out. It’s amazing what some time, removing the carpet, a power washer and a carpet shampooer will do.
Should I tackle switching the lockers from the LC to the LX and keep it, or just sell the LX as is to fund the needed maintenance and mods on the LC?
Thanks for taking the time to read, and your opinions are valued, and appreciated!
It was awful in an otherwise nice truck. TX guy bought it anyway.
